I got two watches in 2019.
A Mondaine Official Swiss Railways stop2go in September – which was an awesome birthday present from Nadia (thank you!):
And a Boldr Expedition Everest that arrived earlier today (30 December 2019) – with a hat tip to T3 for bringing Boldr to my attention a few months ago:
Achievement unlocked!
The coolest thing in 2019 was that I completed this Mondaine trifecta that I’ve been trying to pull together for several years:
A Mondaine wristwatch, desk clock, and wall clock.
I adore Hans Hilfiker’s Swiss Railway clock design and, thanks to Nadia who got me that wall clock in 2018 and this wrist watch in 2019, I get to see this design all the time.
#MyWifeIsAwesome
State of the collection
So, at the end of 2019 I own seventeen timepieces: fifteen wristwatches and two clocks.
Of those fifteen watches only twelve are in rotation – which is convenient, since that’s the size of my watch box.
(The other three are older Casio quartz watches that I bought when I couldn’t afford much else. Those have since been superseded and boxed away.)
A box full of watches.
The timepieces I have might not be super expensive, but seventeen is still a big number. I am privileged that I’ve been able to afford this many items that I don’t strictly need.
I am also privileged to have friends and family who’ve bought or contributed to four of those timepieces. Thanks, folks!
A theory of watch classification
A photo of watches in a box is a standard ‘state of the collection’ fare (#SoTC). But you know me: I like to take things a step further :)
In my head I organise watches in two ways: I either group them by activity (eg watches I’ll wear to work) or I plot them along the complexity-robustness axis that I think works best to broadly classify a diverse group of watches.
Here’s what that looks like in graphical form:
State of the watch collection 2019: all watches
In case that doesn’t make sense…
As you go from left to right along the x-axis, robustness increases. That’s why my vintage 1950s Wittnauer is on the extreme left and my carbon-fibre strap G-Shock is on the extreme right.
As you go from bottom to top along the y-axis, complexity and functionality increase. That’s why time-only and time-and-date watches are along the bottom and watches with rotating bezels, chronographs, alarms, timers, and so on are along the top.
And generally speaking:
the watches along the left are what I’d wear if I was to dress formally,
the watches along the right are what I’d wear if I was doing any physical activity (everything from mowing the lawn and walking the dog to swimming and bushwalking), and
the watches in the middle are everyday watches, ie what I’d wear to work or on weekends – depending on style and functionality requirements.
Slicing and dicing by watch type
It’s also useful to look at a watch collection by watch type.
So, these are my dress and casual watches:
State of the watch collection: dress, casual watches
These are my pilot and military watches:
State of the watch collection: pilot, military watches
And these are my field and dive watches:
State of the watch collection: field, dive watches
2019 wrist time
The watches that got the most wrist time this year were my Stowa Flieger, Seiko Alpinist, and Mondaine stop2go. These I wore on rotation to work every day and also on weekends. On weekends I wore those or my Casio G-Shock and Techné Goshawk.
The rest of my watches I wore far less regularly.
I expect the Boldr Expedition will feature heavily on my wrist particularly in the next few months.
Where to from here?
I don’t have 20/20 vision so I have no idea which watches (if any) I’m going to get this coming year. And, now that I’ve got the Boldr Expedition, I don’t have a hole in my collection that I want to fill either.
There are still lots tool watches I’d love to get, of course – so I might get something from Seiko, Sinn, or Hamilton. I’d probably want to start with the gorgeous Hamilton Intra-Matic chrono. Or maybe I’ll get something dressier from Oris or Nomos.
I’m also hoping to afford an actual (second-hand) luxury watch in the next few years. I’d love to get something from Cartier, Grand Seiko, or Omega. Though, if I am stepping up to that tier, I might as well go all-in and get my grail watch: the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional.
Or maybe I’ll scratch that long-time space/moon watch itch with a Bulova Lunar Pilot, Fortis Cosmonaut, or Dan Henry 1962. Who knows? I guess it’ll depend on what my year-end bonus is :)
In the meantime, I have a fantastic bunch of watches and I plan to wear the hell out of them in 2020. So here’s to another fantastic year in horology!